How to Avoid “Thinking on Your Feet”

Extending Theories of Action: Formal Theory and Practical Applications

Volume

Papers from the 1995 AAAI Spring Symposium

Contents

The common notion of "thinking on your feet" refers to the ability to quickly make decisions in response to changing situations. Implied in this concept is that reasoning about taking action takes place at (or very near) the time of action. In this note we argue that such a skill is neither practical nor necessary in general. A key research issue concerning approaches to taking time-critical action in dynamic, uncertain environments is to determine when it is most effective to reason about taking action.